A higher degree no long provides a premium on some marking

According to the campus branch of the  National Tertiary Education Union management is reducing the rate PhDs are paid for “standard marking,” where their higher degree is not required. The lower rate means a $10 an hour pay cut for casuals. The rates for standard and advanced marking (defined in clause 2.8.4.4 of the enterprise agreement ) that require a PhD do not change.

But the union argues having a PhD should pay a premium in general, “the higher rate reflects the fact that undertaking a doctoral qualification develops valuable skills, making them better tutors and markers, and that those skills are of benefit to students and the scholarly community. This is consistent with the academic classification and promotion system, under which employees are paid different rates depending on their academic standing.”

However a Uni Melbourne spokesperson tells CMM, “In some instances, decisions have been made that a PhD is not specifically required for the work, and a lower rate of pay has been applied.  As part of a broader programme of work that we are now initiating, we intend to look in more detail at this issue with a view to developing consistent standards and qualification requirements for casual sessional teaching across all of our faculties.”

Good-o but for now people are losing pay – which is not a great look for Uni Melbourne.

Not after management announced it owed $10m to casually employed academics who were paid the wrong rate for tasks (CMM November 15 2021). And not after VC Duncan Maskell acknowledged, “ a systemic failure of respect from this institution for those valued, indeed vital employees,” CMM (September 10).